With The Downturn Of Twitter, Is Instagram The New Place To Be?

When it comes to social media marketing, we have been so used to Facebook and Twitter being the main places to build our brands that we have tended to forget about the other platforms available to us. So should we be sticking with Twitter, or looking elsewhere to boost our small business profile?

You wouldn’t have failed to notice the news reports recently revealing the drop in Twitter’s active user numbers. The shock news impacted on Twitter’s share values, resulting in a bit of a nosedive in value. However, speculative traders snapped up shares after the news that resulted in Twitter out performing their figures from the same time last year. So not quite dead or buried yet, despite what the doom-merchants say.

Does the drop in Twitter user numbers mean it is no longer a platform to work with, or does it mean the opposite? If businesses start to abandon Twitter, could it mean that you have more of a chance to become a bigger fish with less competition by sticking with them? Quite possibly. Let’s watch and see shall we.

Another direction

If you want to test the waters on another social media site, did you know that Instagram now has more advertisers than Twitter! It’s official, Facebook’s Instagram app now has more than 200,000 monthly active advertisers who are placing ads to reach Instagram’s 400-million-plus active users.

Facebook’s Instagram app now has more than 200,000 monthly active advertisers

It is remarkable to think that this 200,000 number has sky-rocketed from just “hundreds” of advertisers using the site back in June last year. This boost in figures is mainly down to the site opening its self-service ad platform in September last year. Another notable point to take on board is that according to their most recent figures, 75% of its advertisers are from outside of the U.S. and the vast majority of them are small and medium-sized businesses.

Advertisements

Instagram now say that having more advertisers has enabled them to tailor the delivery of ads to people according to their likes and interests. This makes advertising more relevant and interesting to the users, so there is now more opportunity for businesses to make sales than ever before.

Twitter also has a self-serve ad platform, but according to its last earnings reports, it has 130,000 advertisers, and remember that Twitter’s self-serve platform has been in operation for four years now!

Facebook and Twitter have always worked in opposition of each other, and while Facebook truly dominates the social media scene, its massive 2.5 million strong advertiser base has the advantage of easily tacking on the purchase of Instagram ads.

[bctt tweet=”Did you know that 98 of the top 100 Facebook advertisers also use Instagram?”]

Did you know that 98 of the top 100 Facebook advertisers also use Instagram? It makes sense really when you think about it. According to Instagram business managers, it’s the same back end but with a different shop window. Recent statistics from Instagram show that around half of its users already follow businesses, so posts from familiar businesses on their news feed seem natural.

Advertisements

Instagram also report that 60% of users state they learn about products and services through their site, and as many as 75% have said they take action following a post, such as searching for more information, visiting a site and shopping. Facebook stats released a while ago state that one in five mobile minutes are spent on Facebook and Instagram. Even in the last six month period alone, the time people are spending watching videos on Instagram has grown by over 40%.

[bctt tweet=”one in five mobile minutes are spent on Facebook and Instagram”]

Instagram has also recently released their 60-second video ads, so we are watching with interest at how this will make an impact on Facebook’s business bottom line.

So, my question to you is: Are you going to stick it out with Twitter and see how they respond to the ever-increasing domination of Facebook and Instagram over social media, or are you going to jump on the ‘next big thing’, and ride the Instagram roller-coaster to see where it takes you?